The Fine and Subtle Art of Self Defense
by Lys ap Adin
Summary: Haru knows how to take care of herself. Haru, gen with some Gokudera Haru undertones.


**Title:** The Fine and Subtle Art of Self-Defense**  
Characters/Pairings:** Haru**  
Summary:** Haru knows how to take care of herself.**  
Notes:** General audiences. For Round III of KHRfest, prompt _IV-61. Haru – weapon of choice_. 1103 words.

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**The Fine and Subtle Art of Self-Defense**

The boys, as Haru could not help thinking of them even though they were all grown up these days, worried about her. She thought it was rather sweet of them, even if it could be a trifle obnoxious to have to go through yet another round of _let Haru-chan prove that she can take care of herself_. (Unfortunately, it wasn't a lesson that seemed to stick very well and had to be repeated on a semi-regular basis.) Irritating or not, it did show that they cared and that they didn't want to see her hurt, even if it also showed a regrettable lack of confidence in her skills.

But that was okay. Haru didn't exactly mind having to reestablish her credentials from time to time. It was entertaining to remind Tsuna-kun that, Tenth boss of the Vongola or not, she was _still_ a better shot than he was. She didn't fault him for it; he wasn't fond of guns, and for good reason. A gun was for putting holes in things, and Tsuna-kun was opposed to having to put holes in things--especially when the "things" were other people.

Haru didn't have quite the same objections that he did and it showed in her shooting. In fact, she was rather fond of her little gun and the hours she put in at the firing range every week. It was meditative to put on her safety glasses and her hearing protectors and to put neat clusters of holes in her targets, exactly where she wanted them to go, head and chest or arm and knee. She hadn't ever had to use her gun against another human being--not directly, anyway; producing it from her purse and using it to underline a point didn't count, no matter what Kyouko-chan said--but she'd given it some thought. If it came down to it, her life or someone else's, Haru was pretty sure that she'd be able to pull the trigger and put the bullet where it needed to go.

If it came to that, though, she'd rather use her box weapon, which didn't have to be particularly lethal.

It had been a fight just to get a box weapon of her own, more of a fight than the shooting lessons had been. Hayato had actually been in favor of the gun, but he and Tsuna-kun had been a united front about the box weapons. Haru fought them over it for weeks, but they stayed firm no matter what arguments she levied. Yamamoto-kun had actually been the one who'd helped her go behind their backs. He got her the box weapon and the ring and dropped them into her hands after making her promise that she wouldn't tell where they'd come from, at least not without giving him a heads-up so he could get clear of Hayato's wrath. Haru wasn't actually surprised that Yamamoto-kun was willing to help--he seemed to take it as a matter of faith that she should do what she wanted and that she should be good at what she did.

Yamamoto-kun really was a sweet boy.

He also helped her persuade Lal Mirch to teach her how to use the box weapon and her Sun Flame, which Haru appreciated. It was strange knowing this Lal, who was strong and healthy and had not known the other future; she wasn't as approachable in this time frame. Haru regretted that, but only a little since it was selfish of her. All the same, she was glad of Yamamoto-kun's facilitation, because Lal was one of the best trainers they had.

It was, unexpectedly enough, _Hibari-san_ who stuck up for Haru when Tsuna-kun and Hayato found out about Haru's lessons with Lal. He interrupted Tsuna-kun's lecture and Hayato's flailing, clearly unimpressed by their fussing. "Don't be so stupid," he said in that bored tone of his while Haru held onto her temper with both hands, resisting the urge to pull her box weapon and sic her mongoose on the both of them. "Let her keep her fangs. She needs them."

Hibari-san was a dear boy, too, though he looked startled to hear it. That had been fun. So was the way Yamamoto-kun had slid off his seat laughing. Tsuna-kun just stared while Hayato growled and kicked at Yamamoto-kun. The initial argument got lost in the ensuing scuffle, and so Haru had kept her ring and her box weapon and retired from the field, triumphant.

What neither of the boys really seemed to understand and Haru had almost given up trying to hammer into their stubborn heads, was that neither the gun nor the box weapon were her preferred weapons. She wasn't a fighter. Nor did she care to be. The box weapon and the gun were simply self-defense for those occasions when her preferred weapons failed her.

Haru preferred to use her personality and the cuteness of her face as her primary weapons, and her brain as her secret weapon. The boys--Tsuna-kun, especially--didn't quite understand how lethal she could be with just those. She didn't blame Tsuna-kun for that, of course, since he only had eyes for Kyouko-chan; it didn't matter how devastatingly dressed Haru was, because it simply didn't register with him. Hayato should have known better, though she thought that his noticing was part of the problem--he knew perfectly well how easy it was to see only the surface of her, the pretty face and the really very nice décolletage (if she did say so herself) and forget that there was an actual brain in there somewhere. It was like he couldn't believe that anyone would fall for such a simple misdirection.

He really did overestimate people, sometimes.

That was all right, though. Haru could be patient; she had no doubts that she'd get through to him eventually. After all, no one fussed as much as he did without having a damn good reason for it. She was happy to let him go on thinking that he was winning their occasional battles, because he'd already lost the war a long time ago. He just needed to realize as much, was all.

And in the meantime, Haru was going to go on exactly as she had been. There was, after all, no sense in gloating in her victory before he'd acknowledged it, and she didn't mean for him to make the mistake of thinking that she was going to rely on him just to protect her, either. She was smarter than that.

And she knew he'd see it her way eventually, too. It was just a matter of time.

**end**

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